Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Cover Reveals - Middle Grade (77)

League of Unexceptional Children: Get Smart-ishby Gitty DaneshvariGoodreads

A hilarious and action-packed sequel
to The League of Unexceptional Children!

Jonathan Murray: Twelve years old.
Wears khaki pants to tell the world he plans on driving the speed limit when he
grows up. Saved the world once; it was probably a fluke.

Shelley Brown: Twelve years old. Narrates her imaginary exploits as if she is
the subject of a documentary film. Saved the world once; it was probably a
fluke.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has called upon Jonathan and Shelley
to catch a criminal who has stolen a virus that makes people less smart.
When the stakes are this high, can the kids be the utterly average spies the
world needs them to be and save the day? Embrace your unexceptional side in
this hysterically funny sequel!

A novel in verse about three girls in three different time periods who grew up to become groundbreaking scientists.

Maria
Merian was sure that caterpillars were not wicked things born from mud,
as most people of her time believed. Through careful observation she
discovered the truth about metamorphosis and documented her findings in
gorgeous paintings of the life cycles of insects.

More than a
century later, Mary Anning helped her father collect stone sea creatures
from the cliffs in southwest England. To him they were merely a source
of income, but to Mary they held a stronger fascination. Intrepid and
patient, she eventually discovered fossils that would change people’s
vision of the past.

Across the ocean, Maria Mitchell helped her
mapmaker father in the whaling village of Nantucket. At night they
explored the starry sky through his telescope. Maria longed to discover a
new comet—and after years of studying the night sky, she finally did.

Jonathan Grisby is the
newest arrival at the Slabhenge Reformatory School for Troubled Boys--an
ancient, crumbling fortress of gray stone rising up from the ocean. It
is dark, damp, and dismal. And it is just the place Jonathan figures he
deserves.

Because Jonathan has done something terrible. And he's willing to accept whatever punishment he has coming.

Just
as he's getting used to his new situation, however, a freak accident
leaves the troubled boys of Slabhenge without any adult supervision.
Suddenly the kids are free, with an entire island to themselves. But
freedom brings unexpected danger. And if Jonathan can't come to terms
with the sins of his past and lead his new friends to safety... then
every boy on the island is doomed.

Dan Gemeinhart's most gripping
novel yet, this is a tale of misfits and outcasts at odds and in peril,
and a redemption story that shines a light on dark truths to reveal
that the strongest prisons of all are the ones we build for ourselves.

A soon-to-be siren finds
herself responsible for the lives of her sisters—and the fisherman they
curse—in this haunting debut novel.

*Now that I know the truth, I
sometimes picture my sisters in headlights, the way they would have
looked on that cold February night, armed with shovels and pickaxes, and
digging in the graveyard.*

Lolly Salt has three beautiful
sisters. When they’re not in school or running their small town’s diner,
they’re secretly luring ships to their doom from the cliffs of
Starbridge Cove, Maine. With alluring voices that twelve-year-old Lolly
has yet to grow into (not that she wants to anyway) the Salt sisters do
the work mandated by the Sea Witch, a glamorously frightening figure
determined to keep the girls under her control. With their mother dead
after a terrible car crash, and their father drowning in his grief, the
sisters carry on with their lives and duties…until a local sea captain
gets suspicious about the shipwrecks.

On the day before her
birthday, Lolly watches in helpless horror as her sisters are lured
themselves by curse-reversing fishermen—and suddenly it’s up to her and
her best friend Jason to rescue the sirens of Starbridge Cove.

In her first standalone
middle-grade novel, the beloved author of the Keena Ford chapter book
series delivers a funny yet timely and moving story about family and
immigration.

Oliver "Spaghetti-O" Rodriguez's dad is about to be
deported to Mexico, and Oliver believes the only way to save him is with
the help of his favorite lucha-libre wrestler turned action star, Tito
the Bonecrusher. Together with his best friend Brianna (a.k.a. "Brain"),
and their new ally Paul "Popcorn" Robards, Oliver devises a madcap plan
to spring his dad from a Florida detention center. Heartwarming and
hilarious, this book looks at what it takes to be a hero...and what
happens when you realize that saving the day might not always be
possible.

In Archie Greene and the Magician’s Secret,
Archie became one of the Flame Keepers, a secret group devoted to
finding and preserving magical books that are literally portals into
other places and times.

In the action-packed sequel, the Golden
Circle—a symbol that hasn’t been seen in three hundred years—appears on
Archie’s palm. It's the mark of the Alchemists’ Club, a group of young
magicians from centuries past who experimented with magic...until the
spells got out of control, the results turned disastrous, and the club
disbanded.

Now Archie and a few other apprentices, including his
cousins Thistle and Bramble, have been marked with this powerful symbol
and appear to be chosen to reestablish the club. They don’t know who
chose them. They don’t know why. And they don’t know what perils they
are about to face because the Golden Circle has returned.

Christopher Rowe is back and there are more puzzles, riddles, and secrets to uncover in this follow-up to the Indie Next pick The Blackthorn Key, which was called a “spectacular debut” by Kirkus Reviews in a starred review.

The
Black Death has come to London, spreading disease and fear through
town. A mysterious prophet predicts the city’s ultimate doom—until an
unknown apothecary arrives with a cure that actually works.
Christopher’s Blackthorn shop is chosen to prepare the remedy. But when
an assassin threatens the apothecary’s life, Christopher and his
faithful friend Tom are back to hunting down the truth, risking their
lives to untangle the heart of a dark conspiracy.

And as the sickness strikes close to home, the stakes are higher than ever before…

1242. On a dark night,
travelers from across France cross paths at an inn and begin to tell
stories of three children: William, an oblate on a mission from his
monastery; Jacob, a Jewish boy who has fled his burning village; and
Jeanne, a peasant girl who hides her prophetic visions. They are
accompanied by Jeanne's loyal greyhound, Gwenforte . . . recently
brought back from the dead. As the narrator collects their tales, the story of these three unlikely allies begins to come together.

Their
adventures take them on a chase through France to escape prejudice and
persecution and save precious and holy texts from being burned. They’re
taken captive by knights, sit alongside a king, and save the land from a
farting dragon. And as their quest drives them forward to a final
showdown at Mont Saint-Michel, all will come to question if these
children can perform the miracles of saints.

Beloved bestselling
author Adam Gidwitz makes his long awaited return with his first new
world since his hilarious and critically acclaimed Grimm series.
Featuring manuscript illuminations throughout by illustrator Hatem Aly
and filled with Adam’s trademark style and humor, The Inquisitor's Tale is bold storytelling that’s richly researched and adventure-packed.

Making Mistakes on Purposeby Elise Primavera

Perfect for a new generation of Mary
Poppins fans, this second book in the series again features an eccentric
headmistress and the endearing students who soak up her every silly lesson.Great Rapscott School for Girls of Busy Parents is not your
typical boarding school. Students arrive in boxes, birthday cake is served for
breakfast, and two multitalented corgis assist the wonderfully peculiar
headmistress. Having learned to Find Their Way during the summer term, Ms.
Rapscott’s pupils must now make it to The Top. But the semester is not off to
an auspicious start. First, one of the girls is shipped straight to The Top
(without having to start at The Bottom.) Then, the headmaster of the Mount
Everbest Academy for Boys of Busy Parents becomes Very Busy himself and starts
misplacing students left and right! Luckily, Ms. Rapscott knows that Making Mistakes
on Purpose is the secret to Going Far in Life.Complete with charming black and white illustrations, this
sequel to Ms. Rapscott’s Girls is full of warmhearted lessons, spirited
adventure, and good cheer.

Someone has stolen a page from a rare book in the New York Public Library. At least, that’s what Devlin’s friend Liza thinks she’s
seen, but she can’t be sure. Any other kid might not see a crime here,
but Devlin Quick is courageous and confident, and she knows she has to
bring this man to justice—even if it means breathlessly racing around
the city to collect evidence. But who is this thief? And what could the
page—an old map—possibly lead to? With her wits, persistence, and the
help of New York City’s finest (and, okay, a little bit of help from her
police commissioner mother, too), Dev and her friends piece the clues
together to uncover a mystery that’s bigger than anyone expected—and
more fun, too.

With all of the heart-pounding excitement that
made her internationally bestselling Alexandra Cooper series a hit,
Linda Fairstein paves the way for another unstoppable heroine . . . even
if she is only twelve.

Return to the magic of Burnett's classic tale with a brand-new character as she discovers a very secret garden.

It's
1939, and the occupants of the Craven Home for Orphaned Children have
been evacuated to Misselthwaite Hall, a fancy manor in the English
countryside, to escape the Blitz. Emmie would hardly call the orphanage
"home," but her heart breaks knowing that leaving Craven means leaving
her beloved cat, Lucy. Away from everything she's ever known and trapped
in imposing Misselthwaite, Emmie finds herself more miserable than
ever.

But soon she starts discovering the secrets of the house-a
boy who cries in the night, a diary written by a girl named Mary, and a
garden. A very secret garden…

Sofarende is at war. For
twelve-year-old Mathilde, it means food shortages, feuding neighbors,
and bombings. Even so, as long as she and her best friend, Megs, are
together, they'll be all right.

But the army is recruiting
children, and paying families well for their service. If Megs takes the
test, Mathilde knows she will pass. Megs hopes the army is the way to
save her family. Mathilde fears it might separate them forever.

A reimagining of war, where even kindness can be a weapon, and children have the power to see what adults cannot.

In an intricately plotted novel full of
espionage and intrigue, friendship and family, Anne Nesbet cracks
history wide open and gets right to the heart of what it feels like to
be an outsider in a world that’s impossible to understand.

Students
at the Magisterium are supposed to be safe. Under the watchful eyes of
the mages, they are taught to use magic to bring order to a chaotic
world.

But now the chaos is fighting back. Call, Tamara, and
Aaron should be worrying about things like pop quizzes and magic
contests. Instead, after the shocking death of one of their classmates,
they must track down a sinister killer… and risk their own lives in the
process.

As Call, Tamara, and Aaron discover, magic can only be
as good as the person who wields it. In evil hands, it has the capacity
to do immeasurable harm, unless it is stopped in time.

In this
striking third book of Magisterium, bestselling authors Holly Black and
Cassandra Clare present us with a school where anything, good or evil,
can happen, and the only way to unlock the truth is to risk everything
to find it.

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Do you have a favorite recent new cover? Or a favorite from this list? Let me know in the comments!